Griffin is clearly smart and confident; this you can tell simply by listening to him speak. But what will keep him viable in the NFL is humility.

If you've played any chess, even at a casual twice-a-year level, you know the parallels between the queen on the chessboard and the quarterback on the football field. Each is the most important piece.

And each is the most valuable. That's why each can be recklessly placed in harm's way only at the risk of the entire side's demise. Both pieces are profoundly powerful and can inflict major damage on the opposition. But each must also be protected from potential danger.

That's why the queen is commonly used as the hub of attack, not in the front lines.

And that's why quarterbacks must remain behind the increasingly violent front lines in the game of football at the major-college and professional levels.

You cannot put your most important piece rashly in danger. And that's why I think conventional rather than “athletic” quarterbacks remain the future template for successful offense.

Is it OK to have a mobile quarterback such as Drew Brees or a highly durable quarterback such as Ben Roethlisberger who can extend plays and adapt to breakdowns in protection? Of course.

But show me a guy whose athleticism remains his primary attribute over his skills at dissecting and exploiting defenses – someone like Michael Vick or Tim Tebow – and I'll show you a guy who's doomed to eventual failure.

The reasons are twofold: First, that quarterback will continually put his body in danger in a game where you simply can't get away with it anymore. And second, he won't have the vision and quick intellect to see and exploit defenses in the split-second manner in which it's necessary today.

So, we come to Robert Griffin III. Which is he? Maybe he's both. And the Redskins' first game on Sunday, a resounding 40-32 win New Orleans, suggests he may be.

But only one part of his ability – his knack for processing information and reacting quickly to it with accurate throws – will determine whether he's a big success in the NFL. His athleticism is not, and should not be used as, a weapon that sends him into the teeth of defenses. It should only be a side benefit, a way to keep him out of danger not thrust him into it.

Fans are fascinated with quarterbacks who can run, who can use their big bodies or athletic gifts to slice through defenses in attack mode or in scramble situations. But, eventually, it always ends in bad news for the offense.

At Baylor, Griffin used such maneuvers against largely toothless Big 12 college defenders with great success. But even at that level, he tore his ACL his sophomore year and suffered a concussion late last season. Those injuries would have been more numerous and severe at the NFL strata.

The Redskins will not design an offense around him like the Baylor spread that Mike Leach protege Art Briles built around Griffin. Nobody understands the dangers that lurk beyond the line of scrimmage in the NFL better than Redskins coach Mike Shanahan.

But the problem is, scrambling and running in attack mode in broken-play situations is in Griffin's DNA. He must eradicate that tendency now if he's to succeed at the NFL level or endure a career of constant injury and eventual irrelevance. NFL defenders are simply too dangerous to challenge.

Griffin is clearly smart and confident; this you can tell simply by listening to him speak. But he also carries a dash of youthful cockiness. And what will keep him viable at the NFL level is humility – a healthy respect for his super-dangerous realm.

Examine the elite level of The League and you won't find any knucklehead heroes who stick their heads into the line of fire by choice: Brady, Brees, Roethlisberger, Rodgers, Manning and Manning. These guys wear the rings, 10 among them. They got them by reading defenses, sensing danger and getting the ball away. Only Roethlisberger could be called remotely reckless and he has a massive fortress of a body that absorbs glancing blows. But you don't see even him attempting to veer into heavy traffic.

Vick has clearly hit a plateau. He's getting beat up. His once incredible physical gifts are diminishing. What's left is an ordinary ability to see and exploit defenses. He still is just not very good at it.

Tebow is a bad joke. Added to his inability to read defenses is a popgun arm. It's insane to think that somehow his physical frame, his running ability or his perceived leadership qualities are enough to make him an NFL success.

Ever since the advent of Randall Cunningham more than two decades ago, we've all heard the clarion of folks declaring a “new age” of "dual threat" mobile quarterbacks capable of hurting defenses with both their arms and their feet.

Lemme tell you something: The best quarterbacks hurt you with their eyes and their heads. Give me a guy with keen vision and quick intellect over guys with powerful arms and flashy feet and I'll beat you. That hasn't changed and it isn't changing.

I think Robert Griffin III is capable of being both types. But to succeed, he needs to be only one.

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